Junior filmmakers debut work at Master Builder Camp

Eli Engemann watches his 40-second stop-motion film he’s helped to create, smiling with friends as they surround a small tablet, marveling at their one-of-a-kind production.

The 7-year-old and his friends had just finished maneuvering their Thanksgiving-food actors inch by inch, snapping photographs of an epic plot of good versus evil.

“It’s about a cyborg potato that saves the world from the evil Cranberry King,” he said, showing off the Cranberry King’s cranberry-skewer spear.

The production was part of a one-day camp Tuesday organized by Master Builder Camp, a Gainesville company that offers camps for kids during school breaks.

Company founder Harmony Lenasbunt, a graduate of the University of Florida College of Education, said she started the business six years ago with her husband because she loved the positive impact camps can have on kids.

“We wanted to create a place where kids could interact with (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) concepts, but through the element of play and not as a class,” Lenasbunt said. “We want kids to learn about working in teams and collaborating their ideas and to understand the design process and engineering of hand-building.”

The one-day camp, called “Food Fight! A Film Festival," encouraged kids to use their creativity to create stop-motion films using traditional Thanksgiving food. It drew around 30 children.

Across the room from the heroic potato with toothpicks for arms, Zohar Sela, 7, Nayeon Casey, 7, and Efrata Tesfamariam, 8, discussed how their film should end: their sweet potato airplane taking off and landing on an asparagus runway lacked the drama they were looking for.

Zohar, who seemed to take charge as the film’s top producer, grinned in satisfaction.

“I like it,” she said.

Lenasbunt said Master Builder Camp has continued to grow as parents spread the word.

Its summer camp draws around 100 children, she said.

The company now rents out space at Newberry Christian Community School, at 3536 NW Eigth Ave., though it's not affiliated with the school, Lenasbunt said.

She has plans to expand the company into its own brick-and-mortar building and offer yearlong build camps around the end of 2018.

And not just for the little ones.

“We want to be able to interact with full families and have family builds,” she said. “We want to do a lot bigger stuff.”

After finishing her 48-second film, which ended up being made up of more than 200 pictures, Nayeon said she likes going to the Master Builder Camps because it’s fun to hang out with friends and make things with her hands.

“I think it’s interesting and creative," she said. "We do a lot of cool stuff."

Lenasbunt said company is slowly transitioning to a new name, Master Builder Maker Camp, as it adds more woodworking and handbuilding skills programing, so if interested in a camp, go to www.masterbuildermakercamp.com.